Monmouth can't gain the longest yard

That's all that separated the Monmouth College football team from a four-point victory over Wartburg and a berth in the NCAA Division III quarterfinals.

BEN DIGGLE

One yard.

That's all that separated the Monmouth College football team from a four-point victory over Wartburg and a berth in the NCAA Division III quarterfinals.

But a pair of penalties turned that yard into 11, and that four-point victory turned into a two-point loss Saturday as Wartburg rallied to win 30-28.

With 1:42 left in the game and Wartburg out of timeouts, Monmouth (11-1) found itself facing third down and 1 at the visitors' 11-yard line. A third-down converstion would have allowed the Fighting Scots to run out the clock and move on to the quarterfinals, a level no member of the Midwest Conference ever has reached.

But a pair of penalties — one for a false start, another for delay of game — and a pair of incompletions gave the ball back to Wartburg with 1:34 left.

The Knights (10-2) responded by moving the ball 56 yards in eight plays before quarterback Nick Yordi found Justin Vetter in the end zone for a game-winning touchdown pass that covered 23 yards.

'We had a couple of other routes on that play, a couple of digs and unders,' Yordi said. 'But it called for Alex to go deep, and I told him I was looking for him.'

Vetter outjumped three Monmouth defenders and came down with the ball in the left corner of the end zone.

'I'd been getting a good release on the (cornerback) all day, so I knew he wasn't going to be a part of the play,' Vetter said. 'But then I saw the safety coming over the top and I saw the ball and just went up and got it.'

On the game-winning drive, Yordi was 5-for-8 passing, for 64 yards, and he scrambled for another 19 yards.

'We were getting a good rush on him,' Monmouth senior defensive end Wes Levy said. 'But he was able to step up, and that gave his receivers more time to get open.'

Afterward, Monmouth coach Steve Bell made it clear he had no regrets about his in-game decisions.

'I'll take it; it's on me, and I always will,' Bell said. 'But at the same time, I'm not going to lose much sleep over it.

'We had our best players on the field and we were running our best stuff.'

The Scots' offensive difficulties in the second half were a contrast to the first half, when quarterback Alex Tanney, the MWC Offensive Player of the Year, was 21-of-27 passing, for 179 yards. He threw touchdown passes to Kyle Weyeneth, Steve Zidow and Kramer Matzen as Monmouth built a 28-14 halftime lead.

Tanney finished 41-for-57, for 313 yards.

SCOT SHOTS: Richwoods High School graduate Marc Artozqui broke the Monmouth record for tackles in a season. The senior linebacker made 11 stops in his final game to finish with 121, better than Justin Zigler's 115 in 2005. ... Weyeneth, a Metamora grad, finished with nine catches for 76 yards in his final game for Monmouth.